610. That time shall be no more, signifies that there shall be no longer any understanding of Divine truth, nor any state of the church therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "time," as being here the state of man in respect to the understanding of the Word, and thus the state of the church, because both the one and the other are treated of in this chapter. "Time" signifies state, because times in the spiritual world are determined and distinguished only by particular and general states of life. This is because the sun in that world, which is the Lord, does not move, but remains in the same place in heaven, and that place is the east; that sun does not there revolve through the heavens as the sun in the natural world appears to do. By the apparent revolution of the sun of the natural world times in general and in particular are determined, and thus have existence; in general, the year and its four seasons, called spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Moreover, these four seasons of the year are the four natural states of the natural world corresponding to the same number of states in the spiritual world, which are its general spiritual states. In particular, within these general states in the natural world, there are determined and fixed times, called months and weeks, but especially days, and days are divided into four natural states, which are called morning, noon, evening, and night, corresponding to which there are four states in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, because the sun, as has been said, does not revolve through the heavens but remains constant and fixed in its east, there are no years, months, weeks, days, or hours, consequently there are no determinations by times, but only determinations by states of life, general and particular. Therefore it is not known there what time is, but only what state is, for the determination of a thing is what gives the idea of it, and according to the idea is the thing named. This, then, is the reason that it is not known in the spiritual world what times are, although they succeed each other there the same as in the natural world, but instead of times there are states and their changes; this is the reason also that times, when mentioned in the Word, signify states. (But respecting time and times in the spiritual world, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 162-169; and on the Changes of States of the Angels, n.154-161. [Note from the Margin:] Notice where it is said, "it shall be when there shall be neither day nor night" [Jeremiah 33:20; Zechariah 14:7.)

[2] Since "time" means the things pertaining to time in the natural world, as those pertaining to the year and the day (those of the year are seedtime and harvest, and those of the day are morning and evening), by these things pertaining to time states of the church are described in the Word, "seedtime" describing and signifying the establishment of the church; "harvest" its fruit bearing; "morning" its first time, and "noon to evening" its progression. These natural states (or conditions) also correspond to spiritual states, which are states of heaven and the church. As concerns the church, the church in general passes through these states, so does each man of the church in particular. Moreover, each man of the church from his earliest age is also inaugurated into these states, but when the church is at its end he can no more be inaugurated, for he does not receive Divine truth, but either rejects or perverts it, therefore he has neither seedtime nor harvest, that is, no establishment and no fruit bearing, nor has he morning or evening, that is, neither beginning nor progression. These states are meant and signified by "times" in the Word; and as in the end of the church these states cease with men of the church, therefore it is here said that "time shall be no more;" and this signifies that there shall be no further understanding of Divine truth or the Word, consequently not any state of the church.

[3] The like is signified by "time" in Ezekiel:

The evil, behold one evil cometh; the end is come, the end is come, it hath awakened upon thee. Behold, the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land, the time is come (Ezekiel 7:5-7).

This, too, was said of the state of the church. The end of the former church is first described, and the establishment of a new church afterwards, the end of the former church by this, "One evil, behold the evil cometh; the end is come, the end is come;" the establishment of a new church by this, "Behold, the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land, the time is come," "morning" signifying the state of a new or commencing church, and "time" its progressive state; accordingly the meaning is similar as that of "seedtime and harvest" and "morning and evening," mentioned above, consequently it means the state of the church in respect to the understanding of truth and the will of good.

[4] In Daniel:

The fourth beast shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, for he shall think to change times and the right; and they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:25).

"The fourth beast" means the evil that was about to vastate the church completely; falsities destroying the truths of the church are meant by "the words that he shall speak against the Most High," and by "the saints of the Most High whom he will wear out," "the saints of the Most High" signifying in the abstract sense Divine truths. That the truths of the Word and its goods will then be turned into falsities and evils is signified by "he shall change the times and the right," "times" meaning the states of the church in respect to the understanding of truth. The duration of that state in relation to the end of the church is signified by "for a time and times and half a time," which means a full state of vastation.

[5] So, too, in the following words in Daniel:

And I heard the man clothed in linen, that he lifted up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages that it shall be for a fixed time of fixed times, and a half, when they are to make an end of dispersing the people of holiness, all these things shall be finished (Daniel 12:7).

"Time" here signifies state; and "time, times and a half" signifies a full state of vastation; therefore it is said, "when they are to make a full end of dispersing the people of holiness," "the people of holiness" meaning those of the church who are in Divine truths; or in an abstract sense Divine truths. With a similar meaning it is said in Revelation:

That the woman should be nourished in the wilderness for a time and times and half a time (Revelation 12:14).

[6] As by "time" things pertaining to time are meant, such as spring, summer, autumn, and winter, these signifying the states of one who is to be regenerated, or is regenerated, also the things pertaining to these times, such as seedtime and harvest, these signifying the state of the church in respect to the implantation of truth and the fructification of good therefrom, and as like things are signified by the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening, and night, so these times have this signification in the following passages. In Genesis:

During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

This may be seen explained in Arcana Coelestia 930-937). In David:

The day is Thine, the night also is Thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter hast Thou formed (Psalms 74:16, 17).

In Jeremiah:

Jehovah giveth the sun for a light of the day, and the statutes of the moon and stars for a light of the night. If these statutes shall depart from before Me, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me all the days (Jeremiah 31:35, 36).

In the same:

Jehovah said, If I shall not have set My covenant of day and night, the statutes of heaven and earth, I will reject also the seed of Jacob and of David ¹ My servant (Jeremiah 33:25, 26).

"The statutes of the sun, moon, and stars," also "the covenant of day and night," and "the statutes of heaven and earth," have a similar signification as "times," since "times" exist from those statutes. That "seedtime and harvest, summer and winter," also "day and night," have a similar signification as "times" has been said above.

[7] It follows that "times" have the same signification in these words in Genesis:

God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years (Genesis 1:14-19).

The two "luminaries," the sun and moon, signify love and faith; for that chapter treats in the spiritual sense of the new creation, or the regeneration of the man of the church, and the things said respecting the sun and moon signify the things that chiefly regenerate man and make the church; therefore these words and those that follow describe the process by which regeneration is effected, and afterwards it describes their states. This makes evident what is signified by "time shall be no more."

Poznámky pod čarou:

633. Forty-two months, signifies even to the end of the old church and the beginning of the new. This is evident from the signification of "months," as being states, here the states of the church; for "times," whether hours or days or months or years or ages, signify states, and such states are designated by the numbers by which such times are determined, as here by the number "forty-two" (that this is so, see above, n. 571, 610). This is evident also from the signification of "forty-two" as being the end of the former church and the beginning of the new; this is the signification of that number, because it means six weeks, and "six weeks" has a similar signification as the "six days" of one week, namely, a state of combat and labor, and thus the end when the church is altogether vastated, or when evil is consummated; and "the seventh week" which then follows signifies the beginning of a new church; for the number "forty-two" arises from the multiplication of six into seven, six times seven making forty-two, therefore "forty-two" has a similar signification as "six weeks," and "six weeks" something similar to the "six days" of one week, namely, a state of combat and labor, as was said, and also a full state, here the full consummation of good and truth, that is, the full vastation of the church.

[2] In the Word mention is sometimes made of "forty," sometimes days, sometimes months, sometimes years, and that number signifies either the full vastation of the church, or a complete temptation. That this state is signified by the numbers "forty" and "forty-two," can be seen from the following passages. In Ezekiel:

Egypt shall not be inhabited forty years; I will make Egypt a solitude in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities in the midst of the cities that are laid waste, they shall be a solitude forty years; and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and will disperse them into the lands. At the end of forty years I will bring together Egypt from the peoples, whither they were scattered, and will bring back the captivity of Egypt (Ezekiel 29:11-14).

"Egypt" signifies the church in respect to true knowledges [scientifica], upon which doctrine is based. True knowledges at that time were the knowledges of correspondences and representations, upon which the doctrine of their church was based. But because the Egyptians turned these knowledges into magic, and thus perverted the church, its vastation is described, which is meant by "forty years;" this, therefore, is the signification of "Egypt shall not be inhabited forty years, and her cities shall be a solitude forty years." That "Egypt must be scattered among the nations and dispersed into the lands" signifies that evils and falsities will altogether occupy that church and pervert all its knowledges [scientifica]. This makes clear that "forty years" signifies a state of full vastation of the church, or even to its end, when there will be no more good or truth remaining. But the beginning of a new church, which is signified by "the end of forty years," is meant by these words, "at the end of forty years I will bring together Egypt from the peoples whither they were scattered, and will bring back the captivity of Egypt."

[3] In the same prophecy:

That the prophet should lie on his right side forty days, and lay siege to Jerusalem, which shall want bread and water, and be desolated, a man and his brother, and pine away for its iniquity (Ezekiel 4:6, 7, 17);

has a similar signification. The full vastation of the church is also here signified by that number; "Jerusalem" signifies the church; "to lay siege to it" signifies to distress the church by evils and falsities; "to want bread and water" signifies to be vastated in respect to the good of love and the truth of doctrine; "to be desolated, a man and his brother, and to pine away for iniquity," has a similar signification, for "man and his brother" mean truth and charity, and "to pine away" means to die out.

[4] The "forty days" of the flood have a similar signification in Genesis:

For yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy all substance that I have made from upon the faces of the earth. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights, then after seven days he sent forth a dove, which did not return unto him (Genesis 7:4, 12; 8:6, 12).

The "flood" signifies the devastation of the old or Most Ancient Church, likewise the Last Judgment upon those who were of that church; "the rain of forty days" signifies the ruin of that church by the falsities of evil; but the beginning of a new church is signified by the drying up of the earth after those forty days, and by its sprouting up anew; the "dove" that he sent out signifies the good of charity, which was the essential of that church. (But respecting these things see Arcana Coelestia, where they are explained.)

[5] The law in Moses:

That the wicked man might be smitten with forty stripes, and no more lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes (Deuteronomy 25:3);

originated in this signification of the number "forty." Full punishment as well as vastation is described by "forty," since punishment is equally the consummation of evil; and as reformation follows after punishment, it is said that he should not be smitten with more stripes, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes;" for "forty" signifies the end of evil, and also the beginning of good, therefore if he were smitten with more than forty stripes the beginning of good, or reformation, would not be signified.

[6] The vastation of the church with the sons of Jacob by a servitude of four hundred years in Egypt is signified by the words of Jehovah to Abraham:

Know that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not theirs, where they shall subject them to servitude four hundred years (Genesis 15:13).

"Four hundred" has a similar signification as "forty," just as one "thousand" has a similar signification as one "hundred," and one "hundred" as "ten. "

[7] The vastation of the church and also full temptation are signified by the tarrying of the sons of Israel forty years in the wilderness, which is thus spoken of in the following passages:

Your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms even till your carcasses are consumed ¹ in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33, 34).

He made them to wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah was consumed (Numbers 32:13).

Jehovah hath known thy walking through the great wilderness these forty years, Jehovah thy God hath been with thee that thou lackedst nothing (Deuteronomy 2:7).

Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee and tempt thee; He fed thee with manna; to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and to do thee good at the last (Deuteronomy 8:2, 3, 15, 16).

Your fathers tempted Me, they proved Me; forty years I loathed this generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in heart, and they have not known My ways (Psalms 95:9, 10).

I have made you to come up out of the land of Egypt, and I have led you in the wilderness forty years to possess the land of the Amorites (Amos 2:10).

From what has been cited it is clear that "forty years" signifies not only the vastation of the church with the sons of Israel, but also full temptation; also "the end of those years" signifies the beginning of a new church. The vastation of the church is described by these words, that "they should be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and should bear whoredoms, even till their carcasses should be consumed; also by these, "until all this generation that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah was consumed;" also by these, "I loathed this generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in heart, and they have not known My ways." But the temptation that is also signified by "forty years" is described by these words, "Jehovah thy God hath been with thee these forty years, that thou lackedst nothing;" also by these, "Jehovah led thee forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee and tempt thee; and He fed thee with manna;" also by these, "He led thee in the wilderness to tempt thee, and to do thee good at the last." The beginning of a new church, after the end of the forty years, is described by their introduction into the land of Canaan, which took place after these forty years; and this is also meant by these words, "to do thee good at the last;" so also by these, "I have led you in the wilderness forty years to possess the land of the Amorites."

[8] Full temptation is signified also by:

Moses was upon Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights, during which he ate no bread and drank no water (Exodus 24:18; 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 18, 25).

In like manner that Jesus was in the wilderness, tempted by the devil, and fasted there forty days (Matthew 4:1, 2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1).

From this it can be seen that the number "forty" in the Word signifies full vastation and consummation, that is, when all the good of the church is vastated and the evil is consummated; also that the same number signifies full temptation, and also the establishment of the church anew, or reformation. From this it can be known what is signified by "the forty-two months during which the nations trampled down the holy city," likewise by the following in Revelation:

That there was given to the beast coming up out of the sea a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and there was given to him authority forty-two months (Revelation 13:1, 5).

Let no one, therefore, believe that "forty-two months" mean months, or that any time designated by numbers is meant here and in what follows.

Poznámky pod čarou: